CEO who rebelled against Microsoft over Windows licensing backs down

The CEO of a virtual desktop company who dared Microsoft to sue him by launching a service that would intentionally violate Windows licensing rules said today he is going to back down and issue a public apology.

Guise Bule, CEO of tuCloud, was angry that competitor OnLive offered a free virtual desktop service to iPad users for months without any public intervention from Microsoft, despite the service violating Microsoft’s rules for delivering hosted desktop services. The rules that everyone else has to follow, he said, are harmful to tuCloud because they impose licensing restrictions regarding the deployment of virtual Windows 7 desktops on multi-tenant infrastructure and to customers who haven’t bought Software Assurance and Virtual Desktop Access licenses. Only the biggest customers can afford that, he said.